May 2013

You just gave birth. Your hormones are raging. Your life just changed forever.

What if I tried to sell you an insurance policy that could insure a more positive transition for you? What if it was your own placenta and eating it was part of that policy? Ladies, let me introduce you to…

As a kid, I remember my hippie mom and her friends talking about placenta lasagna and placenta stew. I remember thinking, I’m not sure what placenta is but I’m steering clear of stew and lasagna for a while, just in case. I had no idea that they were talking about growing an organ in their uterus’, passing it through their vaginas and then EATING IT!!!! I always thought they were weird but this took the cake!

BUT….

My mind has been changed. It’s amazing what a little education can do for someone... So, let me share what I’ve learned!

First of all, we are mammals. MOST (not all) mammals ingest their placentas after giving birth. Of the ones that don’t, most are water mammals. Whales for example do not. When a whale is just about to give birth, the cord and the baby separate, the “calf” is born and when the placenta is born, it falls to the bottom of the sea and the mother is not able to ingest it.

Quit the fucking whining and the excuse making and make it happen. What ever "IT" is, just make it happen.

Why do you sabotage yourself? Why do you speak to yourself with weakness and despair? Why do you tell yourself that you will fail? Because you have? So what?!?! I have failed! I have failed many times.

I lived outside at one point. That was my address. Outside. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a job when you can’t write an address or phone number on the job application? I went to the bowling alley everyday. I walked there after stopping at the Mobil gas station's bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. At the bowling alley, I asked for the manager and was asked each time to leave a phone number that I could be reached on when he returned. I, of course said, "no, that’s ok, I’ll just come back later". And I did. I came back over and over again because I had to MAKE IT HAPPEN. I had no choice. It was simple! Not easy… but simple.

“The squeaky wheel gets the oil.”

“You get what you give.”

“Quitters never win and winners never quit.”

I begged that man to let me make hamburgers at that bowling alley everyday until he finally said, “you’re not going to stop coming here until I give you the job, are you?’ And he gave me the job. I sucked at it and quickly realized that hamburger making was not for me, but… I GOT THE JOB! If I could get one job, I could get...Read more

Somehow exhaustion and hunger seem to go hand and hand. So, what happens to your labor doula when she walks out the front door of that hospital after an all night birth? I'll tell you! If she is anything like us, she pigs out and crashes for a few hours! This is what the "pigging out" looks like!

10) Any snack that is in our bag on the way home! From granola bars to candy bars to bruised bananas! It doesn’t matter what it is, we just shovel it in as fast as we can while driving.

9) Cold Pizza. Hopefully it is from the night before but 2, 3…4 day old pizza is NOT off limits!

8) One of Debbie’s favorites, CEREAL. A box of cereal! The whole box of cereal!

7) Grilled cheese sandwiches. 2 usually do the trick.

6) Bacon, egg and cheese on a roll with a touch of hot sauce! Yummmm!!!

5) Leftover cake from the birthday party you got called away from to go to the birth.

4) Bacon cheeseburgers are always a favorite for The Rock N’ Roll Doula but especially after a birth! There’s something about the protein, fat, carbohydrate combination that really comforts the soul and prepares us for rest!

You know those arcade machines that are filled with stuffed animals? There’s a big steel claw hanging over them and a person walks up to it, puts a coin in (probably a dollar at this point…) and moves a controller towards the toy they want. They press a button and the claw comes down and plucks the toy out of its habitat. It sends it down a shoot and places it firmly into the life of the person who put the coin in. Do you know what I mean?

That’s what it’s like to be a Doula.

I’m always on call. If I’m not on first call, I am on second call, which means that when Debbie is on first call and gets called to a birth, I am officially on call. So unless I get on an airplane and am forced to shut off my phone, I am fair game to the “person with the coin ready to use the controller”.

As a doula, our lives are not always our own. We plan and we prepare and we anticipate but “the claw” is always hovering over us waiting to snatch us up. At any time in the middle of anything we’re doing that phone could ring and we could be called to a birth.

So, who do you think makes the sacrifice? I’ll tell you. It’s not us!

We love what we do. Sometimes we even anticipate it with excitement. You can’t do what we do if you don’t love it. You can’t give of yourself completely if you have no passion for what you are giving yourself to.

It is our families who make the sacrifice. It is our children and our husbands/wives. They must pick up...Read more

This is a must attend event in the future, for sure. So much to see, so much to learn and it is so important for us as doulas, to stay current on all things baby so we can bring the most up to date information to YOU, our awesome clients!

This wonderful event started on Thursday for Debbie, Lauren and I with a trip to NYC to drop off the one and only Doula Mobile for center stage parking inside Pier 92. It was the center piece of the stroller trial track where thousands of new and expectant families came to try out new strollers. This awesome track was made of concrete, grass, cobble stone, etc so that you could see how easy each stroller managed the terrain. Brilliant idea, if you ask me!

Friday was set up day, so we loaded up and headed back to NYC to set up our booth. Star Sign and Graphics hooked us up! Our pop up banners and signage were AMAZING!

Saturday morning we were up at the crack of dawn. We got all dolled up (which we LOVE to do) and made our way back to the city. We checked into our hotel and then quickly made our way over to Pier 92 for the show. We were so excited to meet all of the attendees and talk about the tremendous benefits of Doula Support and Placenta Encapsulation! We were equally excited to learn that Jenna Wolfe and Rosie Pope were using our Doula Mobile for filming a piece...Read more

1) HIRE A LABOR DOULA! Enjoy your pregnancy with the educational, emotional and physical support of a labor doula. Remember, this is your last chance to be nurtured, before you become the nurturer!Read more

This weekend Northeast Doulas will have a booth at the New York Baby Show – stay tuned for pictures of the event and our beautiful booth. NEW YORK BABY SHOW INFO

June 1st Northeast Doulas is celebrating a decade of service with our No Child Wet Behind Diaper Drive/ Race and Family Fun Day!! Check out the details on our website - where to drop off diapers and how you can participate and enjoy the day! JUNE 1 INFO

We are collecting diapers NOW throughout Westchester and don’t forget to bring some diapers on June 1st! Online registration is open for the race (5k/10k/1-mile) and if you pre-register you’ll receive a voucher to park for free all day. At 11:30 we shift gears into FAMILY FUN! Bouncy houses, games, entertainment, food trucks!

Call or email us for more information – WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL!!

I say that with complete humor because I know you think the same thing!

How on Earth do you explain to a teenager that what happens socially in high school, although it seems like the most significant and important thing on planet Earth, simply… doesn’t matter!

My conclusion… You can’t! No one could have explained it to me and I can’t explain it to mine.

Facebook is a funny thing. Somehow reuniting on facebook with people you weren’t friends with in high school makes sense.

Reaching out to a stranger whose paper you copied or test you cheated off of is perfectly acceptable. I mean, I’m sure we all have a few people that hurt our feelings in school beyond repair that we avoid online, but for the most part, the wars have ended, the aggressors have surrendered, the wounded are healed and we all gather on facebook to “share” our lives. Most of us share just the positive stuff and manage the negative in other ways, but some share it ALL keeping us tuned in for exciting facebook outbursts.

Have we changed or have we stayed the same??? A facebook outburst (you know… where someone goes on a wild rant about what an asshole someone else is or how they’ve been wronged in some way by someone else) generates the same excitement and gossip of the old high school days when 2 football players fist fought in the hall after lunch over the cheerleader with the big tits. At 46 years old, you see one of the rants or outbursts on facebook, you pop open a...Read more

Mother’s Day is a tough one for me. My mom died a couple of years ago but that’s not why it’s so tough.

She and I had a tumultuous relationship and it was difficult for me to be her daughter. You see, she would say things to me casually and nonchalantly that would infuriate me and then not understand why I was upset. Things like “don’t get your hopes up” and “your expectations are too high”. Anyone who knows me, even for a short time, knows that my hopes are ALWAYS up and my expectations are ALWAYS high. 2 of my greatest characteristics… if you ask me.

I know instantly when I say something that upsets my children (although it is something I try not to do). I know because I know my children. I think my resentment comes from her not knowing me well enough to know what types of things were upsetting to me.

It’s hard to write this post and I hope my sister doesn’t read it. (Her experience with our mother was much different than mine, or maybe I just expected more) It’s amazing what comes out when you start typing. I EXPECTED MORE... that’s it. That’s all it is.

I expected her to give it all, be it all, want it all, love it all! I expected her to lavish me in love. I expected her to be passionate and enthusiastic about my life, my stories, my world. I expected her to love me with home cooked food, special tokens/gifts and her time. I expected her total commitment to her grandchildren, holiday meals together and the unity of her...Read more

Northeast Doulas

Northeast Doulas is proud to provide families in the Greenwich, Fairfield, Westchester, NYC areas (and beyond) with the best trained most experienced doulas available.

Clients of Northeast Doulas enjoy the benefits that our professional and compassionate doulas bring to them in both labor and on the postpartum side. The staff of Northeast Doulas offers labor support in the birthplace of your choice (hospital or home), and postpartum support from 4 - 24 hours per day.